Environmental Studies Minor

The Environmental science minor offers students the opportunity to explore environmental issues from a broad multidisciplinary perspective toward a profound and integrative view of human-environment interactions.

Enhance Your Civic Engagement with an Ecological Knowledge Base

The cross-discipline foundation of the Environmental Studies minor is a good complement to any major, from education, business, and communications to sociology, psychology, history, creative writing, global studies, the arts, and applied therapies. Students combine courses from the natural sciences, social science, and humanities, and they have many opportunities for significant field-based learning experiences. The Environmental Studies minor is a good choice for anyone whose career choices involve decisions around environmental issues, or who wants broader and deeper knowledge of these issues.

Program of Study

Review the requirements for a Minor in Environmental Studies.

Featured Coures

CPHYS 1308 Investigations in Chemistry I with Lab

This course covers the basic topics in inorganic and organic chemistry including: atomic structure, periodic relationships, chemical bonding, chemical reactions, and molecular structures. The topics are developed further by considering practical examples such as: air and water pollution, pesticides, food additives, forensic science, pharmaceuticals, and energy technologies. The impact of each on public policy and human health is discussed. A student project is required. This course meets for four hours weekly in order to integrate laboratory experiences.

CBIOL 3210 Evolution and the History of Life

In this course students will explore the fundamental process of biological evolution and the rise in life's variation on Earth through time. Through textbook readings and discussions, journal articles, films, hands-on activities, and field excursions, students will examine the processes of natural selection, adaptation, and speciation. Students will then explore the changes in life on Earth from its early origins in a reducing atmosphere to the diversification of prokaryotes; the symbiotic origins of eukaryotes; and the origin and diversification of animals, fungi, and plants. The course will end with a study of human evolution.